2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
The European Zone of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw 53 teams competing for 13 places at the finals in Brazil. The qualification process started on 7 September 2012 and ended on 19 November 2013. There were nine winners of each qualifying group as well as the winners of four play-offs between group runners-up. Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland qualified in the first round by winning their groups. Croatia, France, Greece, and Portugal qualified via the second round play-offs. Format All 53 UEFA national teams entered qualification, aiming to secure one of the 13 European Zone slots for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The draw for the qualification groups was held at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 30 July 2011. The qualification format was the same as 2010. The teams were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five, with the nine group winners qualifying directly for the final tournament. The eight best runners-up (determined by records against the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams in their groups to ensure equity between different groups) were drawn in two-legged play-offs that determined the remaining four qualifying nations. Seeding The July 2011 FIFA World Rankings were used to seed the teams. In consideration of the delicate political situations of the relationships between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as relations between Russia and Georgia, UEFA requested that FIFA maintain the current UEFA policy not to draw these teams into the same qualification groups – although as Armenia and Azerbaijan were in the same pot they could not be drawn together anyway. The mechanism for keeping Russia and Georgia apart was confirmed by the FIFA Organising Committee on 29 July 2011. Teams were allocated to seeding pots as follows (July 2011 FIFA Rankings shown in brackets; the countries which eventually qualified for the final tournament are emboldened): First round The matches were played between 7 September 2012 and 15 October 2013. An initial schedule that includes matches before this date was not ratified by FIFA. Summary Groups Tie-breaking criteria The ranking in each group is determined as follows: * a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches; * b) goal difference in all group matches; * c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches. If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows: * d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned; * e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned; * f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned; * g) greater number of goals scored away from home between the teams concerned (if the tie is only between two teams) Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H Group I Ranking of second-placed teams Because one group has one team fewer than the others, matches against the last-placed team in each of the six-team groups are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of the second-placed table. The eight best runners-ups determined by the following parameters in this order: # Highest number of points # Goal difference # Highest number of goals scored Second round The eight best group runners-up contested the second round, where they were paired into four two-legged (home-and-away) fixtures. The four winners qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Seeding and draw The second round draw took place at the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich on 21 October 2013. The October 2013 FIFA World Rankings were used to decide which of the teams would be seeded (shown below in brackets). The following teams participated in the second round: Matches The matches were played on 15 and 19 November 2013. | |4–2 | | | 1–0 | 3–2}} | |2–3 | | | 2–0 | 0–3}} | |4–2 | | | 3–1 | 1–1}} | |0–2 | | | 0–0 | 0–2}} |} Attendance Discipline In the qualification tournament, a player would be suspended for the subsequent match in the competition for either getting red card or accumulating two yellow cards in two different matches. UEFA's Control and Disciplinary body has the ability to increase the automatic one match ban for a red card (e.g., for violent conduct). Single yellow card cautions would be erased prior to the play-off portion, and would not carry over. Single yellow cards and suspensions for yellow card accumulations do not carry over to the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament matches. The following players were suspended during the final tournament – for one or more games – as a result of red cards or yellow card accumulations: Goalscorers There were 749 goals in 268 matches, for an average of 2.79 goals per match. ;11 goals * Robin van Persie ;10 goals * Edin Džeko ;8 goals * Vedad Ibišević * Mesut Özil * Cristiano Ronaldo * Zlatan Ibrahimović ;7 goals * Wayne Rooney ;6 goals * David Alaba * Robbie Keane * Eden Ben Basat * Tomer Hemed * Hélder Postiga ;5 goals * Zvjezdan Misimović * Franck Ribéry * Marco Reus * Konstantinos Mitroglou * Mario Balotelli * Jeremain Lens * Rafael van der Vaart * Ciprian Marica * Aleksandr Kerzhakov * Milivoje Novaković * Umut Bulut * Burak Yılmaz * Andriy Yarmolenko ;4 goals * Yura Movsisyan * Kevin De Bruyne * Mario Mandžukić * Daniel Agger * Frank Lampard * Danny Welbeck * Miroslav Klose * Mario Götze * Thomas Müller * André Schürrle * Dimitris Salpingidis * Balázs Dzsudzsák * Gylfi Sigurðsson * Kolbeinn Sigþórsson * Pablo Osvaldo * Eugen Sidorenco * Dejan Damjanović * Andrija Delibašić * Jakub Błaszczykowski * Bruno Alves * Aleksandr Kokorin * Aleksandar Kolarov * Pedro * Marko Dević * Gareth Bale ;3 goals * Henrikh Mkhitaryan * Martin Harnik * Marc Janko * Miralem Pjanić * Stanislav Manolev * Aleksandar Tonev * Nicklas Bendtner * Jermain Defoe * Toni Kroos * Birkir Bjarnason * Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson * Jonathan Walters * Arjen Robben * Robert Lewandowski * Gabriel Torje * Viktor Fayzulin * Roman Shirokov * Filip Đuričić * Martin Jakubko * Marek Sapara * Álvaro Negredo * Johan Elmander * Fabian Schär * Roman Bezus * Yevhen Khacheridi * Yevhen Konoplyanka * Yevhen Seleznyov * Aaron Ramsey ;2 goals * Edgar Çani * Valdet Rama * Hamdi Salihi * Aras Özbiliz * Philipp Hosiner * Andreas Ivanschitz * Zlatko Junuzović * Ruslan Abishov * Christian Benteke * Eden Hazard * Vincent Kompany * Romelu Lukaku * Kevin Mirallas * Emil Gargorov * Ivelin Popov * Eduardo da Silva * Efstathios Aloneftis * Tomáš Pekhart * Matěj Vydra * Morten Rasmussen * Steven Gerrard * Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain * Daniel Sturridge * Konstantin Vassiljev * Teemu Pukki * Karim Benzema * Olivier Giroud * Mamadou Sakho * Theofanis Gekas * Per Mertesacker * Dániel Böde * Zoltán Gera * Tamás Hajnal * Vladimir Koman * Ádám Szalai * Alfreð Finnbogason * Daniele De Rossi * Andrei Finonchenko * Kairat Nurdauletov * Aleksandrs Cauņa * Edgaras Česnauskis * Deivydas Matulevičius * Stefano Bensi * Daniel da Mota * Aurélien Joachim * Agim Ibraimi * Michael Mifsud * Alexandru Antoniuc * Fatos Bećiraj * Stevan Jovetić * Mirko Vučinić * Elsad Zverotić * Klaas-Jan Huntelaar * Bruno Martins Indi * Ruben Schaken * Gareth McAuley * Martin Paterson * Tarik Elyounoussi * Brede Hangeland * Joshua King * Adrian Mierzejewski * Łukasz Piszczek * Piotr Zieliński * Silvestre Varela * Costin Lazăr * Bogdan Stancu * Denis Glushakov * Aleksandr Samedov * Robert Snodgrass * Dušan Tadić * Zoran Tošić * Marek Hamšík * Tim Matavž * Jordi Alba * Sergio Ramos * Roberto Soldado * Rasmus Elm * Tobias Hysén * Alexander Kačaniklić * Mario Gavranović * Gökhan Inler * Stephan Lichtsteiner * Xherdan Shaqiri * Granit Xhaka * Mevlüt Erdinç * Selçuk İnan * Artem Fedetskiy * Roman Zozulya ;1 goal * Erjon Bogdani * Odise Roshi * Armando Sadiku * Gevorg Ghazaryan * Karlen Mkrtchyan * Artur Sarkisov * György Garics * Sebastian Prödl * Rauf Aliyev * Rahid Amirguliyev * Rufat Dadashov * Vagif Javadov * Mahir Shukurov * Renan Bressan * Stanislaw Drahun * Egor Filipenko * Sergei Kornilenko * Anton Putsila * Dmitry Verkhovtsov * Steven Defour * Marouane Fellaini * Guillaume Gillet * Jan Vertonghen * Ermin Bičakčić * Izet Hajrović * Senad Lulić * Haris Medunjanin * Radoslav Dimitrov * Ivan Ivanov * Georgi Milanov * Dimitar Rangelov * Vedran Ćorluka * Nikica Jelavić * Niko Kranjčar * Dejan Lovren * Ivica Olić * Ivan Perišić * Ivan Rakitić * Darijo Srna * Vincent Laban * Constantinos Makrides * Bořek Dočkal * Theodor Gebre Selassie * Tomáš Hübschman * Václav Kadlec * Daniel Kolář * Libor Kozák * David Lafata * Jan Rezek * Tomáš Rosický * Leon Andreasen * Andreas Bjelland * Andreas Cornelius * Simon Kjær * William Kvist * Nicki Bille Nielsen * Niki Zimling * Leighton Baines * Rickie Lambert * James Milner * Andros Townsend * Ashley Young * Henri Anier * Tarmo Kink * Joel Lindpere * Andres Oper * Rógvi Baldvinsson * Fróði Benjaminsen * Arnbjørn Hansen * Hallur Hansson * Roman Eremenko * Kasper Hämäläinen * Étienne Capoue * Abou Diaby * Christophe Jallet * Samir Nasri * Paul Pogba * Mathieu Valbuena * Guram Kashia * Alexander Kobakhidze * Tornike Okriashvili * İlkay Gündoğan * Sami Khedira * Lazaros Christodoulopoulos * Giorgos Karagounis * Sotiris Ninis * Nikos Spyropoulos * Roland Juhász * Krisztián Németh * Nemanja Nikolić * Tamás Priskin * Vilmos Vanczák * Kári Árnason * Kevin Doyle * Andy Keogh * Darren O'Dea * John O'Shea * Marc Wilson * Rami Gershon * Maor Melikson * Bibras Natkho * Maharan Radi * Lior Refaelov * Itay Shechter * Alberto Aquilani * Mattia Destro * Alessandro Florenzi * Alberto Gilardino * Riccardo Montolivo * Federico Peluso * Andrea Pirlo * Heinrich Schmidtgal * Dmitriy Shomko * Nauris Bulvītis * Edgars Gauračs * Kaspars Gorkšs * Vladimirs Kamešs * Renārs Rode * Valērijs Šabala * Māris Verpakovskis * Artūrs Zjuzins * Martin Büchel * Mathias Christen * Nicolas Hasler * Michele Polverino * Fiodor Cernych * Tadas Kijanskas * Saulius Mikoliūnas * Darvydas Šernas * Marius Žaliūkas * Mathias Jänisch * Adis Jahović * Jovan Kostovski * Nikolče Noveski * Aleksandar Trajkovski * Ivan Tričkovski * Roderick Briffa * Clayton Failla * Edward Herrera * Igor Armaș * Serghei Dadu * Alexandru Epureanu * Viorel Frunză * Artur Ioniță * Alexandru Suvorov * Luka Đorđević * Nikola Drinčić * Luciano Narsingh * Wesley Sneijder * Kevin Strootman * Steven Davis * David Healy * Niall McGinn * Dean Shiels * Jamie Ward * Daniel Braaten * Markus Henriksen * Tom Høgli * John Arne Riise * Kamil Glik * Jakub Kosecki * Waldemar Sobota * Łukasz Teodorczyk * Jakub Wawrzyniak * Hugo Almeida * Fábio Coentrão * Ricardo Costa * Nani * Alexandru Chipciu * Valerică Găman * Gheorghe Grozav * Claudiu Keserü * Alexandru Maxim * Adrian Mutu * Mihai Pintilii * Cristian Tănase * Vasili Berezutski * Alessandro Della Valle * Ikechi Anya * Grant Hanley * Shaun Maloney * Kenny Miller * James Morrison * Steven Naismith * Dušan Basta * Filip Đorđević * Branislav Ivanović * Lazar Marković * Aleksandar Mitrović * Stefan Šćepović * Miralem Sulejmani * Jan Durica * Viktor Pečovský * Kornel Saláta * Valter Birsa * Boštjan Cesar * Josip Iličić * Kevin Kampl * Andraž Kirm * Rene Krhin * Juan Mata * Xavi * Marcus Berg * Mikael Lustig * Martin Olsson * Anders Svensson * Tranquillo Barnetta * Blerim Džemaili * Michael Lang * Haris Seferović * Emre Belözoğlu * Arda Turan * Edmar * Denys Harmash * Oleh Husyev * Vitaliy Mandzyuk * Yaroslav Rakitskiy * Simon Church * Hal Robson-Kanu ;1 own goal * Ildefons Lima (playing against Hungary) * Igor Shitov (playing against Finland) * Ragnar Klavan (playing against Hungary) * Joona Toivio (playing against France) * Pól Jóhannus Justinussen (playing against the Republic of Ireland) * Vasilis Torosidis (playing against Romania) * Szilárd Devecseri (playing against Netherlands) * Dmitriy Shomko (playing against the Republic of Ireland) * Ryan Camilleri (playing against Denmark) * Branko Bošković (playing against England) * Kjetil Waehler (playing against Slovenia) * Alessandro Della Valle (playing against England) * Martin Škrtel (playing against Greece) References External links *Results and schedule (FIFA.com version) *Results and schedule (UEFA.com version) Category:2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) Uefa Category:FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) World World